Letter to the American People on Ukraine

by Alexander Dugin

In this difficult hour of serious trouble on our Western borders, I would like to address the American people in order to help you understand better the positions of our Russian patriots which are shared by the majority of our society.

Difference Between the two Meanings of Being American (In the Russian View)

1. We distinguish between two different things: the American people and the American political elite. We sincerely love the first and we profoundly hate the second.

2. The American people has its own traditions, habits, values, ideals, options and beliefs that are their own. These grant to everybody the right to be different, to choose freely, to be what one wants to be and can be or become. It is wonderful feature. It gives strength and pride, self-esteem and assurance. We Russians admire that.

3. But the American political elite, above all on an international level, are and act quite contrary to these values. They insist on conformity and regard the American way of life as something universal and obligatory. They deny other people the right to difference, they impose on everybody the standards of so called “democracy”, “liberalism”, “human rights” and so on that have in many cases nothing to do with the set of values shared by the non-Western or simply not North-American society. It is an obvious contradiction with inner ideals and standards of America. Nationally the right to difference is assured, internationally it is denied. So we think that something is wrong with the American political elite and their double standards. Where habits became the norms and contradictions are taken for logic. We cannot understand it, nor can we accept it: it seems that the American political elite is not American at all.

4. So here is the contradiction: the American people are essentially good, but the American elite is essentially bad. What we feel regarding the American elite should not be applied to the American people and vise versa.

5. Because of this paradox it is not so easy for a Russian to express correctly his attitude towards the USA. We can say we love it, we can say we hate it – because both are true. But it is not easy to always express this distinction clearly. It creates many misunderstandings. But if you want to know what Russians really think about the USA you should always keep in mind this remark. It is easy to manipulate this semantic duality and interpret anti-Americanism of Russians in an improper sense. But with these clarifications in mind all that you hear from us will be much better understood.

A Short Survey of Russian History

1. The American Nation was born with capitalism. It didn’t exist in the Middle Ages. The ancestors of Americans had not experienced an American Middle Age, but a European one. So that is a feature of America. Maybe that’s the reason why Americans sincerely think that Russian Nation was born with communism, with the Soviet Union. But that is a total misconception. We are much older than that. The Soviet period was just a short epoch in our long history. We existed before the Soviet Union and we are existing after the Soviet Union. So in order to understand Russians (and Ukrainians as well) you should take into consideration our past.

2. Russians consider Ukraine as being part of the Greater Russia. That was historically so – not by the conquest, but by the genesis of Russian Statehood that started precisely in Kiev. Around Kiev our people and our State were constructed in the IX century. It is our center, our first beloved capital. Later in the XII-XIII centuries different parts of Kievian Russia were more or less independent with two main rivals – the Western principalities Galitsia and Wolyn and the Eastern principality of Vladimir (which later became Moscow) existing. All of these areas were populated by the same nation, Eastern Slavs, all of whom were Orthodox Christian. But the princes of the West were more engaged in European politics and they had more direct contact with Western Christianity and relatively less with the Eastern branches. The title of Great Princes was held in the East by royalty who were considered the masters of the whole of Russia (not always de facto but de jure). In the Mongol period the West as well as the East of our Russian principalities were held under the Golden Horde. Eastern Russia was more or less solid and its power grew around the new capital Moscow. After the fall of the Tartars the rule of the Moscow principality affirmed itself as a regional hegemon that was confirmed by the fall of Byzantine Empire. Hence the doctrine of Moscow as the Third Rome.

The destiny of the Western area was quite different. It was incorporated first in a Lithuanian State that later became Polish. The Orthodox western Russians we put under Catholic rule. The earlier main principalities – Galitsia and Wolyn were fragmented and have lost any trace of independence. Some parts were under Lithuania, others under Austria and Hungary, a third belonged to Romania. But all that concerns us now is only the Right-Bank of modern Ukraine. The Left Bank was peopled by Cossacks – the nomad population common to the all lands of Novorossia, space that include Eastern and South-Eastern Ukraine and South Western Russia. Crimea was at that time under Ottoman rule.

3. The growth of the Moscowit Empire integrated first all the Cossack lands (Novorossia) and little by little other territories peopled by Western Russians liberating them from the Poles and Germans. The Moscowit princes believed that they were restoring Old Russia, Kievan Russia uniting all Orthodox Slavs – Eastern and Western in this unique Kingdom.

4. During the XVIII – XIX century the unification of the Western Russian lands was accomplished and in many battles the Moscowit Emperors had finally taken Crimea from the Ottoman Turks.

5. In WWI the Germans conquered the Western Russian lands. It didn’t last long. After that came the October Revolution and the Empire was split into many parts with new nations being born into existence. There was an attempt to construct a Ukrainian nation by different people – Petlyura, Makhno and Levitsky who tried to found three ephemeral States. These States were attacked by Whites and Reds and fought among themselves. Finally the Bolsheviks restored the lands of the Tsarist Empire and proclaimed the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union then artificially created the Ukrainian Republic consisting of Western Russia (Galitsia, Wolyn) and Southern Russia (Novorossia). Later in the 1960’s to that the Republic of Crimea was added. So in this Republic were united three main ethnic groups: Western Russians, the descendants of the Galitsia / Wolyn principalities; the Cossacks / Great Russian population of Novorossia; the Crimea peopled by Great Russians and the rest of the pre-Russian Tartars. This Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was created by the Bolsheviks and was the origin of modern Ukraine. This Ukraine declared independence in 1991 after the split of the USSR. More than that the declaration of independence provoked this split.

6. So modern Ukrainians have three lines of descent – Western Russian, Cossacks, Great Russian and a small Tartar minority in the Crimea.

Ukrainian Identity and the two Geopolitical Options

1. The contradiction of Ukraine consists in the multiplicity of identities. Just after the declaration of the new state – the modern Ukraine in 1991 – the question of pan-Ukrainian identity arose. Such a State and nation never existed in history. So the nation had to be constructed. But the three main identities were very different. Crimea populated by Greater Russians along with most parts of Novorossia which were clearly attracted to the Russian Federation. The Western Russians claimed to be the core of a very specific “Ukrainian nation” that they imagined in order to serve their cause. The Western Russians who partly supported Hitler in WWII (Bandera, Shukhevich) possessed and still possess strong ethnic identity where the hatred toward Great Russians (as well as toward Poles to a lesser scale) plays a central role in this identity. This can be traced to the past rivalry of the two Russian feudal principalities projected onto imperial times and followed by Stalin’s purges. These purges were directed against all ethnic groups, but Western Russians read it as the revenge of the Great Russians on them (Stalin was Georgian and the Bolsheviks were internationalists). So the chosen identity of the newly created State of Ukraine was exclusively Western Russian (purely Galitsia / Wolyn style) with no place for a Novorossia and Great Russian identity.

2. This particularity was expressed in two opposite geopolitical options: Western or Eastern, Europe or Russia. The Western lands of Ukraine were in favor of European integration, the Eastern and Crimea in favor of strengthening relations with Russia. The men from Galtsya were dominant in the political elite presenting a Ukraine with only one identity – a Western one – and denying any attempt of the South and East to express their own vision. In the Western Ukraine anti-sovietism was deeply rooted as well as certain complaisance with the ideas of Bandera and Shukhevich who were considered as national heroes of a new Ukraine. The hatred toward Great Russians was dominant and all anti-Russian xenophobic rhetoric hailed.

3. In the East and South soviet values were still solid and Great Russian identity was in turn the overwhelming feeling. But the East and South were passive and their political power was limited. Still the population regularly expressed their choice giving their votes to pro-Russian or at least not so openly Russo-phobic or pro-Western politicians.

4. The challenge for Ukrainian politicians therefore was how to keep this contradictory society together always balancing between these two opposite parts. Each part demanded completely irreconcilable choices. The Westerners insisted on a European direction, Easterners and Southerners on a Russian one. All of the Presidents of the new Ukraine were unpopular, almost to the point of being hated precisely because they were absolutely unable to resolve this problem that had no solution at all. If you please one half of the population immediately you are hated by the other half. In this situation Westerners were more active and vigorous and partly succeeded in imposing their version of a pan-Ukrainian identity on all of the political space of the country – with the considerable help of Western Europe and above all the USA.

Events and Their Meaning

1. Now we have approached the present crisis. The Orange revolution of 2004 was made by Westerners who challenged the legal victory of Victor Yanukovitch who was considered the candidate of the East. A Third round of elections (against all democratic norms) was revolutionary imposed in order to give the power to the Western candidate (Yustchenko). Four years later new elections gave the Western President only 4% of the votes and the Eastern candidate Yanukovitch was elected. This time his victory was so obvious that nobody could challenge it.

2. Yanukovitch led the politics of balance. He was not really pro-Russian but didn’t respond to all demands of the West either. He was not very lucky and effective, trying to trick Putin and Obama, disappointing both as well as Ukrainians of any side. He was an opportunist without a real integral strategy, which was almost impossible to develop in a society with a split personality and a split identity. He reacted more than acted.

3. Next, when he made a hesitating and reluctant step toward Russia, abstaining from signing the preparation Treaty of a distant entrance in EU, the opposition (Westerns) revolted. That was the reason Maidan was founded. The revolt was initially that of the West against the East and South. So its russophobic and Nazi nostalgic features are essential to its existence.

4. The opposition received huge support from the Western countries – above all from the USA. The role of America in all these events was decisive and the will to overthrow a pro-Russian President was shown by American representatives to be firm and strong. Now the fact that snipers who killed most of victims in the rioting were not those of Yanukovitch is exposed. It is clear that they were part of the USA’s plan for revolution in the Ukraine and part of a plot to escalate the conflict.

5. The Maidan opposition waged revolution, overthrew Yanukovitch who ran from the country to Russia, and quite illegally seized power in Kiev. There was an illegal putsch that brought the completely illegal junta to power.

6. The first steps of the Westerns after seizure of power were:

* declaration of wishing entrance into NATO

* attacks on the use of the Russian language

* a plea to be accepted in the EU

* a refusal for Russia to continue to have a Navy base in Sebastopol (Crimea)

* the appointment of corrupted tycoons as governors in the East and South Ukraine.

7. In response to these things Putin took control over Crimea based on on the decrees of the only legal President of the Ukraine, Yankovitch. He also received from the Russian Parliament the right to deploy in Ukraine the Russian army. Crimean authorities were recognized by Moscow as the representatives of their land and Putin has plainly refused any relations with the Kiev junta.

8. So now we are here.

Short Prognosis

1. Where will this lead? Logically Ukraine as it was during the 23 years of its history has ceased to exist. It is irreversible. Russia has integrated Crimea and declared herself the guarantor of the liberty of the freedom of choice of the East and South of Ukraine (Novorossia).

2. So in the near future there will be the creation of two (at least) independent political entities corresponding to the two identities mentioned earlier. The Western Ukraine with their pro-NATO position and at the same time a ultra-nationalist ideology and Novorossia with a pro-Russian (and pro-Eurasian) orientation (apparently without any ideology, just like Russia herself). The West of Ukraine will protest trying to keep hold over the East and South. It is impossible by democratic means so the nationalists will try to use violence. After a certain time the resistance of the East and South will grow and / or Russia will intervene.

3. The USA and NATO countries will support by all means the Westerns and the Kiev junta. But in reality this strategy will only worsen the situation. The essence of the problem lays here: if Russia intervenes in the affairs of the State whose population (the majority) regard this intervention as illegitimate, the position of the USA and NATO States would be natural and well founded. But in this situation the population of the East and South of Ukraine welcomes Russia, waits for it, pleads for Russia to come. There is a kind of civil war in Ukraine now. Russia openly supports the East and South. The USA and NATO back the West. The Westerns are trying to get all Ukraine to affirm that not all the population of the East and South is happy with Russia. This is quite true. Also true is that not all of the population of the West is happy with Right Sector, Bandera, Shukhevich and the rule of tycoons. So if Russia would invade the Western parts of Ukraine or Kiev that could be considered as a kind of illegitimate aggression. But the same aggression is in present circumstances the position of the USA that strives to help the Kiev junta take the control of the East and South. It is perceived as an illegitimate act of aggression and it will provoke fierce resistance.

Conclusion

1. Now here is what I would say to the American people. The American political elite has tried in this situation as well as in many others to make the Russians hate Americans. But it has failed. We hate the American political elite that brings death, terror, lies and bloodshed everywhere – in Serbia, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria – and now in Ukraine. We hate the global oligarchy that has usurped America and uses her as its tool. We hate the double standard of their politics where they call “fascist” innocent citizens without any feature resembling fascist ideology and in the same breath deny the open Hitlerists and Bandera admirers the qualification of “Nazi” in the Ukraine. All that the American political elite speaks or creates (with small exceptions) is one big lie. And we hate that lie because the victims of this lie are not only ourselves, but also you the American people. You believe them, you vote for them. You have confidence in them. But they deceive and betray you.

2. We have no thoughts of or desire to hurt America. We are far from you. America is for Americans as President Monroe used to say. For Americans interests and not for others. Not for Russians. Yes, this is quite reasonable. You want to be free. You and all others deserve it. But what the hell you are doing in the capital of ancient Russia, Victoria Nuland? Why do you intervene in our domestic affairs? We follow law and logic, lines of history and respect identities, differences. It is not an American affair. Is it?

3. I am sure that the separation line between Americans and the American political elite is very deep. Any honest American calmly studying the case will arrive to the conclusion: “let them decide for themselves. We are not similar to these strange and wild Russians, but let them go their own way. And we are going to go our own way.” But the American political elite has another agenda: to provoke wars, to mix in regional conflicts, to incite the hatred of different ethnic groups. The American political elites sacrifice American people to causes that are far from you, vague, uncertain and finally very very bad.

4. The American people should not choose to be with Ukrainians (Western Russians – Galitsya,Wolyn) or with Russians (Great Russians). That is not the case. Be with America, with real America, with your values and your people. Help yourselves and let us be what we are. But the American political elite makes the decisions instead of You. It lies to you, it dis-informs you. It shows faked pictures and falsely stages events with completely imagined explanations and idiotic commentary. They lie about us. And they lie about you. They give you a distorted image of yourself. The American political elite has stolen, perverted and counterfeited the American identity. And they make us hate you and they make you hate us.

5. This is my idea and suggestion: let us hate the American political elite together. Let us fight them for our identities – you for the American, us for the Russian, but the enemy is in both cases the same – the global oligarchy who rules the word using you and smashing us. Let us revolt. Let us resist. Together. Russians and Americans. We are the people. We are not their puppets.

Alexander Dugin (b. 1962) is one of the best-known writers and political commentators in post-Soviet Russia. In addition to the many books he has authored on political, philosophical and spiritual topics, he currently serves on the staff of Moscow State University, and is the intellectual leader of the Eurasia Movement. For more than a decade, he has also been an adviser to Vladimir Putin and others in the Kremlin on geopolitical matters.

His first English language book, the Fourth Political Theory, is available here.

38 Responses to Alexander Dugin: Letter to the American People on Ukraine

Reblogged this on saboteur365 and commented:
This post is a reblog of an open letter to the American people by one of Russia’s premier thinkers, a man who reportedly has significant influence on Vladimir Putin.

“We have no thoughts of or desire to hurt America. We are far from you. America is for Americans as President Monroe used to say. For Americans interests and not for others. Not for Russians. Yes, this is quite reasonable. You want to be free. You and all others deserve it. But what the hell you are doing in the capital of ancient Russia, Victoria Nuland? Why do you intervene in our domestic affairs? We follow law and logic, lines of history and respect identities, differences. It is not an American affair. Is it?”

If you are serious about understanding the crisis revolving around the Ukraine and Crimea, read this open letter.

I found this post interesting. Clearly something to think about. I disagree that there is nothing that united the people of Ukraine. Certainly parts of the territory of Ukraine have differing historical and ethnic roots. However, the overwhelming support in the parliament, which was the basis of President Yanukovych’s desire to sign the agreement with the EU, reflected a widely shared hope that Ukraine could become a normal country free of corruption. Atomizing the people of Ukraine into ethnic enclaves offers little to the hopes of political and economic reform. Where there was a hope to reverse the economic decline of the past decade in Ukraine, now that hope seems like a distant dream. A wealthy and stable Ukraine on the border of Russia would be a strong guarantor for the security of Russia. The Ukrainian egg has now been broken. Let us pray that this does not lead to open hostilities among the various parts as has happened in many places such as in Yugoslavia. Poor struggling people with corrupt leaders with no hope of unifying reforms are a recipe for disaster.

I have been following the current political crisis in Ukraine for about a month and found this post to offer the most clear information on this matter. I do agree the media(especially CNN(USA) has not been able to present this as accurately. As an american I have had to search oniine for alternate sources to get a complete picture.

We try our best to provide non-conformist / non-controlled viewpoints here at Open Revolt, on many subject including Ukraine. It’s a shame what passes for news in North America and most of the English speaking world is really just propaganda. Thanks for coming by.

I am curious about the assertion “Now the fact that snipers who killed most of victims in the rioting were not those of Yanukovitch is exposed.” There would be no logic for Yanukovitch to have sent snipers, but there would be even less logic for people wishing to eventually join the European Union to have done so. Who then sent the snipers? The EU has clear principles for admission including tolerance for the viewpoints of minorities. Several EU member states have laws relating to Holocaust denial. Also, there is a requirement to fight corruption. Jewish leaders agree that the popular demonstrations in Kiev were not anti-Semitic, although it is recognized that a small minority of extremists did participate.

The CIA is a good place to start when considering who sent in the snipers.

I’d recommend watching our colleague Joaquin Flores’s series of YouTube videos on this subject where he examines the motivations the EU, NATO and the USA have to create mayhem on the borders of Russia. I think you’ll find them interesting. Here’s a good place to start:

Germany is the dominant country in the EU. Germany has very strong business interests in Russia. To think that Merkel, as the leader of the Germany would be seeking to destabilize Russia is highly implausible. What business values above almost everything else is stability. The argument makes no sense if business runs the US and the EU. Ukraine was expected to emerge as the wealthiest of the post Soviet countries. Instead, it has less than half the GDP per capita of Romania which is 1/3 of the EU average. The EU funds programs to bring lagging members up to the EU average. The reason this is done is that poor countries tend to be unstable, particularly where there is an extremely wide spread between the rich and the poor where corruption tends to be very high, such as Ukraine. If Yanukevych had been allowed to sign the agreement with the EU he would have returned a hero to Kiev from Vilnius and been still president and the agreement regarding Sebastopol would have been firm until at least 2042. Russian security interests would have been fully met. Europe craves stability more than any group of countries on the planet. Impoverished countries on its border are a threat to its stability so there is a desire to boost the economies of poor neighbors so they are no longer poor and can also afford to buy what Europe produces.

This open letter provided so much more clarity on the matter. As a journalism student I have been following the crisis since the days of the Maidan Protests in Kiev.

I have kept an open view on the matter, ensuring that I can understand best from the perspectives of the Ukrainians, the Crimeans and the Russian side of the events. Of course I can clearly see the Western side of things (being from the United Kingdom) and of course some elements of our media exaggerates the situation. We are a society scared by radical change that happens in such short spaces of time, being easily frightened by the unknown, and from my readings and understanding the media prey on it for self interest.

I call myself an optimist. I remain optimistic that this crisis can still end without the need for foreign intervention and the possibility of foreign boots on Ukrainian soil. People of my generation are so prone to panic, it is understandable as these events will shape the world in our future.

No country in Europe can afford another war, even Russia I guess. We have just concluded our activity in two major wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and here in the UK, public confidence in sending troops to another war is at an all time low. Governments make cut backs to the armed services, we have just stabilized a majority of leading European economies, and an escalated conflict will only bring us back to the bottom.

I have never been a fan of the political elite, especially the American elite. Not because I hate America, I love the country and I have so many friends over their. Politicians though have double standards, and contradict their own actions and words. Our politicians here do it to, it is far too common.

The fact Yanukovych never signed the agreement with the EU and opted for stronger ties with Moscow was one thing. His actions inspired others, it showed that the liberal youth, the future Ukrainians, would not live any longer in the political elites’ shadow. There is a voice to be heard, and it has been heard, but it has come with costs.

I know that some Russians believe there is a great chance that one day the post-Soviet states can be re-united into a ‘Greater Russia’, but I think those countries that wish to remain free from Moscow should be given that chance, a chance at independence.

Anyhow this post was very insightful, and it has given me further time to think about how I see the crisis.

After what the NYT pulled last year, a lot of people are going to write this off as another hoax. If it isn’t a hoax? This was more than just a history lesson. This sent an unmistakable message to everyone from gun owners to the TEA Party to members of the Bundy Rebellion and everyone in between.

That’s what so beautiful about the Russian people (as well as Ukraine, and other East European countries). The can separate the two. Lived in Russia for a few months one year, and met some of the friendliest people there. Sure alot of them think we’re crazy, but you know, the “lovable crazy drunk uncle that comes to Christmas drunk with a shotgun every year” kind of crazy.

Dear Mr. Alexander Dugin, as an American I’ll respond back by saying most Americans like , admire, and have great respect for Mother Russia & her people. I personally like President Putin allot more than my own president & I’d vote for a man like him before I’d vote for Mr. Obama! I couldn’t thank him enough for the role he played in helping to stop my country’s leadership from invading Syria! Watching him on TV was like watching a skilled statesman of the highest caliber wielding his magic. Really, he was quite amazing, and you guys must be very proud to have him as your leader, I’m envious, as are many other Americans! At least Putin really seems sincere to me & honest when I watch him on TV talking about my country. He seems very level headed, and I like that most about him because that can’t be an easy thing to do when all we seem to do is pressure him & make threats. I think Obama is trying to back him into a corner, and I worry every day now that this will be the day that Putin sticks it to him, because that would mean the rest of us here at home too! Most Americans already think that President Obama’s 1/2 nuts to begin with, don’t believe a word he says, question his true motives & desperately want him out of office asap! Some even say he was ineligible to run for president in the 1st place, and question why he’s even our leader, and want him impeached as a treasonous corporate injected puppet president, and want him to stand trial for crimes against humanity, along with the Bush family & the Clinton’s. Our leadership is certainly the problem here, not the people! Americans are just now starting to ask all the right questions, so it’s only a matter of time before this all comes to a head, but it will still take some time. The question is…do we still have any left? I think my leaders want him to get mad and lose control, so they’ll have an excuse to start WW3. Why, I nor any of my friends seem to know the answer to that, and we certainly will flat-out refuse to participate in the killing of Russians for profit! Things are changing here fast, and our leaders are starting to lose control because the people are waking up to new facts everyday now that make them very angry & they want changed. Our government has made it so complicated to unite as a group to enact any true, meaningful & long lasting change, that Americans are literally on the verge of having to fight a new American Revolution against the government, and our government knows this. They send the IRS to attack you financially if you oppose them in any way & they never get punished, or even stopped from doing it. They’ve bought & stored up billions of rounds of ammunition to shoot us with, and hired thugs called Homeland Security & the TSA to keep us safe, but all they seem to do is intimidate us when ever we travel. Our police don’t have to protect & serve the public anymore, and they treat us like we’re all criminals and also bully us around. The police in my state resemble stormtroopers from Star-Wars & are equipped with military armor & weapons! I saw them last month driving around town in an armored tank on their way to squash a local peaceful protest! I have never even seen a terrorist in my life & don’t expect I ever will. I think I would get struck by lightning before being killed by a terrorist, so why do we need them? I think they’re rushing in WW3 to get rid of all the radicals over here & to distract an already economically distracted public, not to mention the fact that they’ll make tons of money off of this war. War is America’s 3rd largest income, and until we can find a way of weaning our country off of this sour tit…wars will always be common place. I think if America was to spark off WW3 today, that they’d have two wars to fight. The one way off in your territory, and the one here at home with everyone burning down anything that has anything even remotely to do with the government. No one wants to be the one to stand up & start a revolt, but when it starts I think it’ll spread like a wildfire throughout every state in the union! They have already made plans to starve us out by shutting off all our food to us if this happens, but in my opinion all that will do is just get them killed that much faster, seeing that most people already know where all the government employees go home at night to sleep after they get off work. I doubt the military will want to fight it’s own people because their own families they leave behind might get slaughtered in revenge attacks. Many Americans have already stored up massive amounts of food, water, medical supplies & ammunition in anticipation of this very event, so it might drag on for quite some time with high American casualty rates. Sadly I fear that many of the innocent ones here that didn’t think to store anything away for a rainy day will starve to death during this time if it drags out longer than a few months. I’m sure that it’s going to be very horrifying to have to witness all these scary events taking place here in the near future. I just pray that we’re not the ones that get killed for nothing! Good luck my friend and many blessings to you & your people, and thanks for dropping all of us the lovely, respectful, & sincere note.
Signed: Joe American

This article gives credence to my oft repeated assertion that America needs a NEW FORM of government, one in which there is only one law: “Do NOT violate anyone’s rights.” This would eliminate the need for a legislature (Legislature = Congress for many of you who are brain dead.).

However, very few Americans have even a clue as to what a right is. The vast majority of Americans are mesmerized by television political propaganda and will vote Republicrat or Demplican until the cows come home rather than try to make this a better world.

Excellent writing, Mr. Dugin. I think you have a lot of common sense and a rational view of the situation. I am frustrated by so many who think that Putin is a communist seeking to restore the Soviet Union; he is NOT. He is a Russian nationalist who loves his nation and people. I do not think he is an angel walking the earth or a man without flaws, but I also believe that our leadership in the West makes a grave mistake when they ascribe to him traits that he does not possess. I love my nation (America), and I seek to support her against every enemy, foreign and domestic. I simply do not think that Russia is our enemy during this particular moment in time, and I wish that our President would come to that realization, too.

I’m an American, and I realize that the enemies of America are in Washington DC and the centers of international finance, not in Russia. I’m also aware that our mainstream media is nothing but a constant stream of lies and misinformation.

I’m an American who is married to a Ukrainian woman. She was born in Crimea, and my son was born in Brovay. I lived in Ukraine for 8 years, and can say that this was probably in the works since Yanukovich took office. My wife worked for 5 years for an American man who claimed to be ex-CIA. There is no such thing. He probably helped gather intel which made this coup possible.My wife was just an office manager for him, and had no part in his dealings. I really have mixed emotions about all of this, but in the end it will all end badly. I will probably never see my step-children again. I do know for sure that our government or military have no business in Ukraine.More and more everyday, I am ashamed to be American.

I was moved by this history lesson. One thing comes to mind:
American has the identity of Tom Sawyer and the movies and the English and Scots and Irish who won the continent…then there are the Chinese who built the Pacific Railroad…and the Africans who built the East. Now we are full of a huge polyglot of everybody from Vietnamese to …well, you get the idea.
My dull little street has from the corner…older black couple, rental with students, Orthodox Jews, Serbian family, Catholic grandparents (us), black policeman and family, and so on. Did I mention the Tuskegee airman WWII vet and his white wife? This is my block in the very deep south of America.
I am Border Scots and Gaelic Scots. True to my blood I have one Orthodox grandchild and two Catholic. They all live with me a lot!! This is everyday life!!
So if you say there is an American identity…well, that’s the identity. We are MUTTS. and out great gift is to survive and appreciate each other.
This open letter mentions Christian identity often. Yet people hate each other…all over Eastern Europe the kids are taught to hate. That means they are only Christian on the outside…just as racist people in the USA can be only externally Christian. That has to be rooted out and the church pastors need to inspire an authentic faith. Mr. King, I hope your personal life gets much happier with the kids and situation. God bless you.

I’ll repost a slightly edited version of what I posted on somebody’s mirror site, even if I can’t be sure Mr Dugin will see this.

An honorable effort for dialog, I regret my russkii yizik is not as good. A very quick response after a quick read, and hopefully not completely incompetently.

Your distinction between the American people and the political elites I believe is valid, though you did not discuss whether the same distinction occurs between the Russian people and Russian elites. I don’t think that can be put in one side of the equation and left out of the other. I believe in a lot of what gets dismissed as “conspiracy theory” over here about 9-11, ufo technology, “suicides” of people who find out too much, powerful special interests manipulating America and others into bankruptcy and foreign wars against our will, and a lot of similar things – but it also does not stop there. It is equally true that the Russian establishment brutally suppresses economic and political freedom (corrupt billionaires allied to the state, the mafiya, the murder of people like Anna Politkovskaya etc.), and we can not pretend that is not relevant, if we are to intelligently discuss the motives of states.

I take it that you agree that the reaction in Ukraine derives heavily from the history of Stalinist/Russian purges and the deliberate starvation of millions. If the Muscovite power had not sown that wind, the backlash in Ukraine would look nothing like this. The proscription of the Russian language was outrageous, but did the Russians not commit much similar cultural and linguistic hegemony under the USSR? So although wrong acts followed Maidan, and as suspicious as I am of the EU too, you must admit it was in large measure a case of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. Perhaps they are justifiably suspicious of the Russian elite too.

Put in very simplified terms, the argument I hear from you is essentially this: the people in the outer Ukrainian areas are not Russkie, but they are Rossiskie, and they therefore have the right to rebel against their state to claim autonomy or unification. I believe in self-determination, but two things. First, in spite of my general ignorance on this subject, I think it is also partly true and a factor that the USSR tried to a certain degree to increase the Russian population in some former SSR areas to help increase its grip on them, ultimately with limited results, much like China injected as many Han Chinese as it could into places like Uighur territory and Tibet. Second, it would be fair to ask if the same autonomy principle also applied to places like Chechnya too.

You surely understand why when Russia said it was merely morally supporting an independence movement in the Crimea (with nothing said of ethnic cleansing of Tatars, let alone the apparently disguised SpetzNats agents), people said, they’re lying, and if they succeed, they will try to seize the southern and eastern territories next. And that prediction was not wrong. Now that Russia says, we want to take this area too, but of course we would not dream of trying to annex Baltic territories next, people no longer believe them. It is simply stating the obvious to say people see echoes of the Sudetenland here. That too was a complex situation, but the fact is, power is like a drug: annexations lead to annexations lead to annexations.

I try to read independent sources of information and hunted down Putin’s speech on the Crimea action. I believe he made valid points, but it is not enough to say, well, we’re just dealing with a bunch of fascists. I don’t think you can call the Crimean referendum a legitimate revolutionary self-determination, and then in the same breath switch the standards to call Yanukovitch a legitimate president and victim of a illegal putsch. I agree the West is not consistent, but I don’t believe Russia is either.

In the same way you rightly complain many Americans are fooled by the elite here, were not many fooled by the CPSU for over seventy years, and did little to prevent it from its overreaches too? The nature of fascism is an all-powerful state, with things like the intimidation, regulation, or direct control of the media; an intensified “patriotism” and buildup of military “strength”, and the repression of individual freedoms (especially the right to arms, lest the people threaten to restrain corrupt government or revolt if it goes astray). Have the party and the KGB disappeared – or have they perhaps just evolved somewhat? I never thought I would see the day when a Putin recognized some or many errors of the old regime, I respect his intelligence, and I lamented in pain the humiliation and injured self-respect that people in the former USSR experienced in the 90′s – but on the other hand, how much can you respect a Russian president who not only does almost comical end-runs around constitional term limits (the argument that the ends justify the means is the same everywhere) and who also, if I understand correctly, restored a statue of Felix Dzershinsky in Lubianka square? If my recollection is not mistaken, I believe that comrade premier Stalin and his men killed more poor Russian souls than even herr Hitler did. Nye zabwit’.

I suspect Russia did not just passively respond to events but is instead playing chess. I doubt it even intended to try to negotiate these areas with the rest of the Ukraine as it should have, but instead decided to employ craft and force and seize whatever it wanted when the right moment came. At least you can understand why people here are just as cynical about the Russian state as their own. You are not wrong about the elite in the West – but that is still not yet the full story, and history, past or future, can not be incomplete, or otherwise problems simply change their faces without solution. No doubt we can at least agree on that, and that we should all continue to work carefully for hidden truth as well as justice, dialog, and patience to the best of our abilities everywhere.

… by far the most sober, cogent, thoughtful reply, pq01. Mr Dugin is well spoken and erudite, enough for some and inspiring yet others to shout from the fever swamps of their dogma. But you, pq01, were to the point and perhaps too polite by half, understandably.

Mr. Dugin’s view is entirely pro-Russian in the Kremlin sense, despite being accompanied by a few facts and reasonable tone.

Putin’s grip has tightened steadily ever since Yeltsin. Ukraine’s story isn’t so much about America’s political elite as it is about it’s being caught in the middle of a global power energy security contest. Seeing how that’s all that makes Russia geopolitically relevant, Putin has the most to lose here. To talk of of Ukraine’s past is nice. But to talk of it’s future without acknowledging it’s critical role distributing Central Asian resources belies the point of writing this screed from the outset.

Putin has been and still is an authoritarian minded, brutal tyrant. Ask any independent journalist, if you can still find one. Or any Georgian, or any Ingush, Chechen … or Khodorkovsky, for that matter. The list is old and growing.

Ukraine has every right to their own sovereignty. The annexation of Crimea was made under false pretenses which a recent lawsuit hopes to find remedy for. Full stop.

It’s true the peoples of Ukraine have much to sort out. It’s my wish that they get to do so without the threat Russian troops on their border, and provocateurs in their midst …

I agree almost 100% with this article, with one exception,i didn’t vote for a single one of the those psychopaths in that cesspool in dc. Seems almost the entire u.s.gov. is made up of stupid children, its embarking really.

Yes, he does. We work with Comrade Dugin and some of our posts are suggested by him. He is, however, very busy so people should not take it personally if he doesn’t have the time to reply here directly.

I heard about you from Victor Lenta, and he and his group subscribe to your philosophy. As an American, I appreciate your letter. I understand and share your feelings towards both the American people, and the Elite who are dictating the policy under which the apparatus of the U.S. government operates, both domestically, and abroad.
I understand it’s impossible to differentiate between the wide policies of the “west” and the U.S. government policies, since both strive for the same ends. I think the U.S. government is just a part of a wider power structure, which wields international power. I think the U.S. government policy is not reflective of the U.S. people’s desires, or views, or even of the desires, or views of many in the government. Even the people who are carrying out the orders of the U.S. government may have totally divergent views. But the U.S. government has been totally subordinated to a wider power structure, which maintains control over the domestic, and international media, the economic systems, control over resources, education, medical assets and protocols, charity organizations, “hearts and minds” organizations, such as NGO’s which spread chaos, and destabilize nations under false ideologies.
To demonstrate this point, the vast majority of Americans want absolutely NOTHING to do with any of the so called “rebel” groups in Syria. We don’t buy into the idea that there are moderate “rebels” who are fighting for some kind of “freedom”, because it’s pretty obvious to most that if these “rebels” succeed, there will be only suffering, as seen in Libya. But this doesn’t matter. Our government is going to arm, finance, encourage and support these “rebels”, whether we American people like it or not. We have no way to affect a change in that policy. We have laws that prevent our government from funding such groups…even recently passed laws against supporting terrorists, or the cohorts of terrorists, or those who engage in acts to destabilize governments. The U.S. government is prohibited by law to undermine a recognized government through supporting opposition parties with material support in attempting to overthrow a government through any means, aside from fair elections.
Any U.S. support to the Syrian rebels is prohibited by U.S. law. Does it stop the U.S. from supporting the rebels? No. We have a situation where the laws the U.S. people are required to abide by, and the government is required to abide by are thrown aside when expedient for the power structures who really aren’t encumbered by any lawful considerations.
This demonstrates a failure in the constitutional system of America, and therefore, we are living in a condition of lawlessness.
The implements of oppression and force wielded by the elites in power are so effective, there is no conventional, or lawful way to regain control of the government by the people.
The people no longer have their hands on the controls of the government.
Therefore, like the Russian people, who have to bear the aggression of the “west” (as described above, as a power center wielding the combined power of the U.S. government, the media, economic systems,…etc. etc.) the U.S. public must likewise bear the same aggression, but obviously in different ways.
The only possible positive outcome foreseeable in the near future, is for an economic calamity of such magnitude to unfold that the power center looses its ability to control events in the economic sphere, and looses it’s unlimited financial resources, from which it draws most of it’s power. A total collapse of the U.S. dollar would be a start. If people world wide declined to confer upon the dollar the artificial value it currently holds, the power center would lose it’s number 1 tool in controlling people.
The ability to create money (and value) out of thin air is a powerful weapon that confers upon it’s owner wide capabilities to control both the masses, the business class, and governments. It puts the combined production of the entire world into the hands of those creating the artificial value, to dispose of as they please. Entire nations productivity, and standards of living can be controlled, from London, or Washington through economic machinations, regardless of the actual productivity, and natural resources of that nation. This is the true mechanics of control through which the political, social, and economic events of the world are choreographed.
Something needs to change, but unfortunately, Rome survived for hundreds of years after it had become as corrupt as the U.S.A. is now. So we may never see a change in our lifetimes, or even the lifetimes of our grandchildren.